Gaza conflict: Philip Hammond urges Israel to minimise casualties

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond says that Israel has a right to defend itself
in the face of "alarming" attacks by Hamas, but he is urging Israel's
leaders to do "everything they can...to minimise the casualties"

11:27AM BST 24 Jul 2014

Britain is "gravely concerned" by the high number of civilian casualties resulting from Israel's military operation in Gaza, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said on Thursday.

Speaking on his first official visit to the region since taking over as Britain's top diplomat, Mr Hammond said London would do everything it could to help broker a quick end to the hostilities which have so far claimed more than 730 lives in Gaza and 35 in Israel.

At a news conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr Hammond expressed Britain's support for Israel's right to self-defence, acknowledging that the current fighting was caused by Hamas firing rockets "indiscriminately" at Israeli towns and cities.

"But we are gravely concerned by the ongoing heavy level of civilian causalities," he said as another 30 Palestinians were killed in ongoing fighting in Gaza, among them at least six children.

The Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights published figures on Wednesday showing more than 80 percent of the casualties were civilians, and a quarter of them children.